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JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Samawah area safe for troops, GSDF pair back from Iraq say

Two members of a Ground Self-Defense Force advance team to Iraq arrived back in Tokyo on Friday and reported to the government that the southern part of the country is safe enough for deployment of the main GSDF troop body.
COMMENTARY
Jan 24, 2004

Tolerance in the name of God

LONDON -- So many crimes have sadly been committed in the name of religion that many humanists reject religion while Marxists regard religion as the opium of the people. Humanists and Marxists who condemn religion fail to see the good that can flow from sincerely held religious beliefs, but the perversion...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2004

Group urges landlords to accept foreign tenants

Finding a place to live is one of the biggest difficulties foreign residents of Japan face, and one of the main reasons is that landlords are reluctant to accept them as tenants.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 22, 2004

Out of thought, out of mind

Sigmund Freud was well aware that his theories were controversial. "What progress we are making," he commented in 1933. "In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books."
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2004

Reform key to Mr. Koizumi's future

In his policy speech to the Diet on Monday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi spent a considerable amount of time trying to convince a public that is skeptical about sending Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq to provide humanitarian aid and assist with reconstruction. It is not clear whether he succeeded...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2004

Pyongyang facing sanctions

Diet lawmakers who have adopted a hardline stance on North Korea agreed Tuesday to submit bills during this legislative session that would allow the government to slap economic and other sanctions on Pyongyang.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004

Protest halts work on homeless shelter

KAWASAKI -- A protest rally by local residents forced the postponement Monday of the start of construction of a publicly run shelter for homeless people.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004

Lower House OKs Arai's resignation

The House of Representatives accepted Masanori Arai's resignation as a Diet member Monday, following his indictment on vote-buying charges.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004

Online symposium to address peace

The Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and The Japan Times will open the Fourth e-Symposium on Conflict Prevention on Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004

Highway privatization panelists face off

Monday's start of the ordinary Diet session renews Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's scrum with vested-interest Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and bureaucrats as he pushes through a watered-down plan to privatize four heavily indebted expressway firms.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2004

Farm ministry wary of more BSE cases in U.S.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry issued a report Monday stating there are no assurances that more cases of mad cow disease won't be discovered in the United States.
EDITORIALS
Jan 19, 2004

Cracking down on crime groups

The National Police Agency is going all out to crack down on organized crime groups, or yakuza. The latest drive calls for legislative changes to allow victims who have gotten caught up in a yakuza conflict to sue for damages against yakuza leaders rather than the gangsters directly involved.
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2004

Europe's tower of Babel

A funny thing happened on the linguistic fringes of the European Union earlier this month. A group of demonstrators had gathered outside Dublin Castle in Ireland, where talks on an EU constitution were being held, to demand that the EU officially recognize the Irish language. Then Ireland's minister...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 18, 2004

'Losing dog' believers are barking up the wrong tree

In last week's column I mentioned that the media now likes to divide people and things into winners and losers (kachigumi, makegumi). This device is mainly used for economic-related matters, but it has trickled down into other social spheres.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2004

LDP's Arai sends resignation letter to Lower House

Masanori Arai, a lawmaker of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, submitted a letter of resignation Saturday to the House of Representatives secretariat, two days after prosecutors indicted him on charges of vote-buying.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 18, 2004

NHK's variety show, "Top Runner On Campus" and more

Comedian Takeshi Fujii is best known as the effeminate, fake-blonde TV host Matthew Minami on the popular late-night variety show "Matthew's Best Hit TV," which is featured in Sophia Coppola's movie "Lost in Translation." Fujii is doing his first serious leading dramatic role in the new series "Rampo...
CULTURE / Music
Jan 18, 2004

On a mission for the future of funk

Coming up with a technical definition for funk isn't easy, but New York Times critic Jon Pareles did a pretty good job in his review of a Nov. 2003 concert by the New Orleans band Galactic. Stating that the "discipline of funk [is] the repetition and deliberate space that give the music its solidity...
COMMENTARY
Jan 18, 2004

Authoritarian threat grows

LONDON -- The real threat from terrorists is being used as a pretext for growing authoritarian tendencies in democratic countries. On the grounds that every possible step must be taken to prevent terrorist attacks, suspects are being imprisoned without trial or access to lawyers, and Draconian controls...
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2004

Iraq likely to dominate next Diet session

As former deputy chief Cabinet secretary and House of Councilors member Kosei Ueno prepares for the Upper House election scheduled for mid-July, he is nagged by one major concern: the security situation in Iraq.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2004

GSDF advance team departs for Iraq

A 30-member Ground Self-Defense Force advance team left Friday from Narita airport bound for Iraq, marking the first time Japan has sent troops to a nation experiencing conflict since World War II.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2004

Shinsei Bank slates Feb. 19 listing on TSE

Shinsei Bank, the successor to the provisionally nationalized Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, said Friday it will list its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Feb. 19.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2004

Hope for Indo-Pakistani peace

Some years ago, I was visiting Samarkand in Uzbekistan, from where the Mughal Dynasty came down to the subcontinent. The only other person from South Asia in the group was a senior Pakistani military officer. We soon realized we had more in common with each other than any other members of the group because...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2004

Defense Agency briefings spat continues

A dispute between the media and the Defense Agency over the agency's plan to halt regular weekly news conferences by the chiefs of staff of the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense Forces continued Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2004

Chamber wants yen kept down

The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry urged the Finance Ministry on Thursday to prevent a further rise in the yen, saying foreign-exchange policy is one of the few policy options Japan can take to boost its economy.
BUSINESS
Jan 14, 2004

Canadian beef import ban intact

Yoshiyuki Kamei, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, on Tuesday rejected Canada's request that Japan lift its import ban on Canadian beef.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2004

Obituary: Michita Sakata

Michita Sakata, speaker of the House of Representatives from 1985 to 1986, died of heart failure Tuesday at a hospital in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, his family said. He was 87.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2004

GSDF convoy to pass through Kuwait City

The 30-member advance Ground Self-Defense Force team to be deployed to Iraq later this month will probably first travel through Kuwait City in a convoy of armored vehicles en route to U.S. Camp Virginia in the Kuwaiti desert, according to government sources.
EDITORIALS
Jan 13, 2004

Prospects dim for wage round

Japan's economy is showing increasing signs of recovery, yet there is nothing to cheer about concerning the job situation as labor and management brace for what promises to be yet another difficult bargaining season. Once again, wage restraint will be the main theme of negotiation in spring 2004.

Longform

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